Mississippi mayor: Lime going all-scooter, pulling out of city

A bike-sharing company that recently left Hartford is pulling out of a Mississippi market, and the mayor there says she was told it’s because the company’s going all-scooter and the university there won’t let scooters on campus.

Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill and Jeremiah Dumas, Mississippi State university’s director of parking and transit services, told The Commercial Dispatch they received letters Tuesday from Lime, asking to end their contracts.

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Lime's bright-green fleet in Starkville and MSU includes about 175 bicycles and electric-assisted bicycles, and 25 electric scooters added in January.

The letter to the mayor doesn't mention the university. Spruill said she called Tuesday to ask why Lime wanted to leave, and was told that was the problem.

"They said that because the university was adamant about not allowing scooters on campus, that they were going to withdraw from the market because their business model is going to solely scooters,” Spruill said. "I pressed them, I said the bikes were pretty cool, and he said, 'Our business model shows, our clientele shows, our customers show that they all want scooters.’”

Earlier, he'd said that in three weeks, the 25 scooters in Starkville as a pilot project had brought in more than 2,000 rides for 3,000 miles. The bicycles have generated more than 17,000 rides since September, he said.

Dumas said Lime didn't even mention scooters when the university signed on.

“Then scooters came into the market and we were really not ready for scooters,” Dumas said. “The market was evolving and growing so fast that there were some concerns, primarily about safety. That’s why we didn’t jump into the process with them.”

Hartford cut ties with Lime, which brought its bike sharing program to the city last year, earlier this month. City leaders and officials with Lime were tight-lipped about the reasons for parting.